Preparing for the Upcoming 2016 NOFA

In preparation for the upcoming NOFA (Notice of Funding Availability) from HUD, you can expect a good deal of communication from me and Angela. We are hard at work making preparations to assist our community with this important effort.

At this time, I would like to invite each Agency Admin to review each of their HMIS provider pages, specifically focusing on several elements of the Standards tab. Please see image below.

CoCs are charged with designing a local “system” to assist sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness and providing the services necessary to help them access housing and obtain long-term stability. More broadly, CoCs are to promote community-wide planning and strategic use of resources to address homelessness; enhance coordination and integration with mainstream resources and other programs targeted to people experiencing homelessness; and improve data collection and performance measurement. A critical aspect of the amended HEARTH Act is a focus on viewing the local homeless response as a coordinated system of homeless assistance options as opposed to homeless assistance programs and funding sources that operate independently in a community. To facilitate this perspective the Act now requires communities to measure their performance as a coordinated system, in addition to analyzing performance by specific projects or project types.

Even if a project is not HUD funded through the Continuum of Care (CoC), your data matters! The NOFA will include a series of System Performance Measures that will identify our strengths across the spectrum of homeless-based services provided to all individuals in Oakland County. This is our opportunity to demonstrate the great coordinated system that we have worked so hard to obtain and maintain.

If you would like assistance verifying the accuracy and completeness of your provider pages, please email HMISHelp@chninc.net.